1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a pager system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With pager systems, when a caller (calling source) carries out predetermined operations, the caller can contact a remote pager system (source to be called), and in addition, can send messages to the remote pager.
Most pager systems have a display screen with a display capacity of about 4 lines of 20 characters. With these pager systems, a procedure described below is performed to select a message from multiple messages received and stored and to display the selected message on the screen.
Shifting the mode of the pager system from a wait mode to a display mode causes a xe2x80x9cmessage list modexe2x80x9d to be displayed, as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C. Then, the xe2x80x9cmessage list modexe2x80x9d lists the beginning parts of individual messages line by line on the screen. When a cursor is vertically moved using up and down keys, and a determination key is pushed, a xe2x80x9cmessage display modexe2x80x9d appears. The xe2x80x9cmessage display modexe2x80x9d then displays, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C for example, one screen of the message (four lines) on which the cursor is set when the determination key was pushed. For a message displayed thereon which is longer than the capacity of one screen, the up and down keys are used to vertically scroll the message, thereby allowing the entire message to be read.
Pushing left and right keys in the xe2x80x9cmessage display modexe2x80x9d, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C, allows the mode to shift to a xe2x80x9cmessage scan modexe2x80x9d. In this mode, each push of the left and right keys allows the displayed message to shift to the vertically adjacent message, as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C. In this case, the beginning part of the message for one screen is displayed.
The message list mode in FIGS. 5A to 5C displays only about 18 characters in the beginning part of the message, therefore, depending on the case, making it difficult to identify a desired message. However, the xe2x80x9cmessage scan modexe2x80x9d in FIGS. 7A to 7C displays a considerably larger number of characters, thereby allowing a desired message to be easily identified. Nevertheless, as described above, the xe2x80x9cmessage list modexe2x80x9d as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C requires use of up and down keys for message selection, and the xe2x80x9cmessage scan modexe2x80x9d in FIGS. 7A to 7C requires use of the left and right keys for switching of the message display. In this way, different keys are used for the message-selecting operation This is not preferable in a user-interface.
Also, the abovementioned apparatus uses as many as six operation keys in total, that is, two keys as the up and down keys, two keys as the left and right keys, one determination key, and one canceling key or return key (not shown). Therefore, these six keys must be provided even in miniaturized pager systems.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems described above. To solve the problems, the invention provides an electronic apparatus as described below.
According to one aspect of the invention, the electronic apparatus includes a first operating device having a turnable operating section that can be pushed toward the rotation center and a display device for displaying textual information. With this electronic apparatus, in a first display mode, one line each of at least one piece of the textual information is displayed in a list on the display device, turning the operation section allows a cursor set on a piece of the textual information in the list of at least one piece of the textual information to vertically move or allows the list of at least one piece of the textual information to vertically scroll, and pushing the operation section in the first display mode allows mode-shift to the second display mode.
In a second display mode, the display device to display one screen of at least one piece of the textual information on which the cursor was set when the operation section was pushed in the first display mode, pushing the operation section allows contents of display on the display device to scroll vertically, and pushing the operation section in the second display mode allows mode-shift to the third display mode.
In a third display mode, turning the operation section allows the contents of display on the display device to shift to the textual information preceding or following the current textual information in units of one screen.
In the above case, when the operation section is pushed in the second display mode in a different manner from that in which the operation section was pushed for performing mode-shift from the second display mode to the third display mode, the mode may be shifted to a fourth display mode; and in the fourth display mode, turning and/or pushing the operation section may causes a predetermined process to be performed for the textual information displayed on the display device.
Also, the electronic apparatus described above may further include a second operation device, in which operating the second operation device in the second display mode allows the second display mode to shift back to the first display mode, and operating the second operation device in the third display mode allows the third display mode to shift back to the second display mode.
In the above, the second operation device may be made of a key switch.
Also, the electronic apparatus described above may further include a second operation device, in which operating the second operation device in the second display mode allows the second display mode to shift back to the first display mode; and operating the second operation device in the third display mode and the fourth display mode allows the third display mode and the fourth display mode to shift back to the second display mode.
In the above case also, the second operation device may be made of a key switch.
According to another aspect of the invention, an electronic apparatus includes a first directional key, a second directional key, a first operation key, and a display device for displaying character strings. With this electronic apparatus, in a first display mode, one line each of at least one character string is displayed in a list on the display device, turning one of the first directional key and the second directional key allows a cursor set on a character string in the list of at least one character string to move in one of first direction and second direction or allows the list of at least one character string to scroll in one of the first direction and the second direction, and pushing the first operation key in the first display mode allows mode-shift to the second display mode. In a second display mode, the display device displays one screen of at least one character string on which the cursor was set when the operation section was pushed in the first display mode, operating one of the first directional key and the second directional key allows contents of display on the display device in one of the first direction and the second direction, and operating the first operation key in the second display mode allows mode-shift to the third display mode. In a third display mode, operating one of the first directional key and the second directional key allows the contents of display on the display device to shift to the character string preceding or following the current character string in units of one screen for each operation.
In the above case, when the first operation key is operated in the second display mode in a different manner from that in which the first operation key was operated for performing mode-shift from the second display mode to the third display mode, the mode may be shifted to a fourth display mode.
Also, the electronic apparatus described above may further include a second operation key, in which operating the second operation key in the second display mode allows the second display mode to shift back to the first display mode; and operating the second operation key in the third display mode allows the third display mode to shift back to the second display mode.
Furthermore, the electronic apparatus described above may further include a second operation key, in which operating the second operation key in the second display mode allows the second display mode to shift back to the first display mode; and operating the second operation key in the third display mode and the fourth display mode allows the current mode to shift back to the second display mode.
The present invention provides advantages including those described below.
The present invention provides a consistent operation method for the dial and key, thereby allowing the operation to be easily performed. Also, the invention uses only two operation device, that is, the dial and the key. This is an advantage in miniaturization of the pager system. In addition, the invention can be operated by one hand.
Furthermore, the invention dose not force novice users to learn what are not required for practical operations, therefore preventing confusion. Still furthermore, the invention allows high-level users to easily use high-level functions. That is, the invention can provide user interfaces appropriate to the skill levels of users.